Ballot-box



(No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. H. LASKEY.

BALLOT BOX.

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iINiTED STATES PATENT ()FFICFZO JOHN H. LASKEY, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOIt OF 'IWVO-TI-IIRDS TO ISAAC F. DOBSON, OF SAME PLACE, AND BENJAMIN F. DAVIES, OF

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS.

BA LLOT- BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 320,803, dated June 23, 1885.

I Application filed March 27, 1885. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN H. LASKEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Ballot-Boxes; and I do hereby declare that the same are fully described in the following specification, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates to improvements in ballot-boxes for the purpose of automatically counting, printing, and registering the number of ballots deposited in the box, for which purpose the invention is carried out as follows, I 5 reference being had to the accompanying drawings, where 7 Figure 1 represents a plan view of the in vention. Fig. 2 represents a front elevation, and Fig. 3 represents a rear elevation, of my improved ballot-box. Fig. 4 represents a 1ongitudinal section on the line A 13, shown in Fig.1. Fig. 5 represents a plan view of the registering device, the upper stationary index-plate being removed. Fig. 6 represents afront elevation of one of the improved guideplates for guiding the ballots properly between the friction feed-rollers.

Similar letters refer to similar parts wherever they occur on the different parts of the drawings.

a represents a suitable box or receptacle adapted to hold the ballots after they have passed between the friction feed-rollers.

b b represent the frame for holding the va- 5 rious parts of the improved mechanism, and

b b represent posts or connections for holding such frame in proper position. Such frame, however, may be of any suitable form or construction without departing from the essence of my invention.

C and D are the elastic feed and printing rollers usually employed in ballot-boxes, and c d are the respective shafts to which they are secured. The shaft 0 is located and allowed 5 to turn in the stationary bearings c 0, its roller being provided on its outer periphery with a suitably-en'ibossed design, to be reproduced upon the ballots as they pass between the rollers.

E is the ink-roll, loosely supported in bear- 5o ings in the color-box e, such roller being partially submerged in the coloring-matter in box 6 and held against the embossed roller C with a proper pressure, so as to transfer the ink to the design on roller C in the usual manner. The shaft d on the roller D is loosely supported in the stationary bearings d 61, having horizontal slotted perforations cl" (1 in their lower ends, in which the shaft (1 is permitted to yield laterally against the influence of springs d d to compensate for differences in thickness of the folded ballots passing between the rollers C and D. Having the roller D so arranged as to yield laterally from the roller 0 is very advantageous in case hard 65 unyielding articles should accidentally be dropped between the rollers C and D while they are rotated, and thus prevent injury to the rollers.

b is an opening in the upper part, b, of the frame, through which the ballots are dropped between the rollers C D, and I)" is a similar opening in the lower part, b, of the frame, through which the ballots drop into the box or receptacle below.

To prevent the ballots from winding around the rollers C D, I interpose between them a pair of guideplates, F F, Qshown in detail in Fig. 6,) such plates being secured, respectively, in their upper and lower ends to the frame portions 1) and b. Each such guide-plate is composed of upper and lower solid parts, f f, and narrow connecting-strips f f, (shown in Fig. 6,) between which the ballots are guided while being fed downward between the rollers 8 5 C and D. Between the solid parts f f and the connecting-strips f f is a perforation or cutaway portion, f, to permit the embossed design on roller C, to act on the ballot, so as to mark it and cancel it while the opposite side of the ballot is resting against the flexible rollor D.

f f are cut-away portions on the guideplates F, outside of the strips f f, to allow the ends of roller C to act on roller D.

To the front end of rollershaft c is secured in a suitable manner the crank g, by means of which the roller C is turned around its axis,

It is essential that the said roller 0 should not be rotated more than one complete revolution for each ballot deposited, and for this purpose I secure to the shaft 0 a circular disk, h, preferably provided with side flanges, such disk having at one place on its outer periphery a locking notch or recess, h, into which the lower end, i, of the locking-lever i is normally held when the roller 0 is at rest, as shown in Fig. 2, the said lever 13 being hung at 13 in its upper end to frame Z), and held in such locked position by the influence of the elastic spring if, secured to the said lever i in one end and to the frame I) or any other stationary object in the other, as shown in said Fig. 2.

To release the locking lever from the notched disk h, it is only necessary to depress the knob 7o, located on top of frame I) and having a downwardlyprojecting rod, thelower end of which is hinged to one end of a rock ing knee-lever, k, that is hung on the fulcrum k, and has its other end connected to lever 71 by means ofa wire or rod, 70. (Shown in Fig. 2.)

In my improved ballot-box Ihave an alarm mechanism to sound a bell for every time a ballot is deposited, such mechanism being carried out as follows: Zis a bell of the usual construction, mounted upon the stationary spindle Z, as shown in Fig. 2. To the stationary bearing Z, secured to the lower frame, I), is hinged the hammer-lever Z", to which the hammer Zis attached. The hammer lever Z is actuated by means of a pin or projection, P, on the roller 0, to raise the hammer Z, and after said pin Z has passed by the end of the hammer- ]ever Z the latter is returned by the influence of the spring Z, secured in one end to hammer-lever Z, and in the other to the frame 0 or other stationary part of the apparatus.

The registering device is carried out as follows: To one end of roller-shaft c is secured a cam or eccentric, m, provided with the eccentric-rod m, the outer end of which is hinged to the lower end of the rock-lever m", that is hung at m" and hinged in its upper end to the pawl m. (Shown in Figs. 1 and 3.) As the pawl m" is recipr ocated once for every revolution of roller 0, it acts on the toothed circumference of the ratchet-wheel n, so as to move the latter the space of one tooth around its axis for every complete revolution of roller 0. The pawl m" is held against the toothed ratchet-wheel a by the influence of a spring, m", as shown in Fig. 1. The ratchet-wheel n is secured to the shaft 91, that passes upward through the frame I), as shown in Fig. 4, and it has attached to its upper end the indexhand a, that indicates the units upon the centigradc-scale 0, marked on the stationary index-plate 0, as shown in Fig. 1. To the shaft a is also secured the small pinion p, which gears in the gear-wheel p, secured to spindle p, to which latter is also secured the small pinion p, gearing in the gear-wheel p, supported loosely on the shaft n, as shown in Fig. 4, by which means I register the hundreds on a secondary scale, 0, marked on top of index-plate 0, as shown in Fig. 1, the loose wheel 1)" having for this purpose attached to it an index-pointer, p projecting up through a slotted opening, 0, made in the plate 0, as shown in said Fig. 1.. The spindle p is journaled in a suitable bearing; but, if so desired, said spindle may be made stationary, and the pinion and gear 12 1), attached together, may be loosely mounted on said spindle to equal advantage.

The registering device is inclosed in a suitable box, q, secured to the frame I), and covered with a transparent pane of glass, (1, as shown in Fig. 4., so as to protect such device from be ing accidentally injured. If, however, the upper index-hand, a, should accidentally become broken, I have provided a secondary dial-plate, r, secured to frame I) just below the small pinion 1), such plate having the centigrade unit-scale 1" and the hundredth-scale 9" marked on it, as shown in Fig. 5, on which the registering is accomplished by means of the respective pointers r, secured to shaft a, and r, secured to loose gear p, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. IVhen a ballot is dropped in the opening 1), between the guide-plates F F, the man in charge depresses the knob k, by which the lever i is released from notched disk h. The operator then takes hold of crank g and turns roller 0 one complete revolution, causing roller D also to rotate by frictional contact with roller 0, and by so doing the bai lot is fed downward between guide-plates F F and caused to drop through opening 1) into the ballot-receptacle below. During such operation the registering device is actuated to indicate one mark or degree for every complete revolution of the roller 0, as hereinabove fully described.

\Vhat I wish to secure by Letters Patent, and claim, is-

1. In a ballot-box, the positively-operated printing-roller O and loosely-rotated frictionroller D, in combination with the intermediate ballot-guides, F F, having the middle perforatiomf, and side strips, f f, as and for the purpose set forth.

2. In a ballot-box, the positively-operated printing-roller O and the notched disk h h, in combination with the locking-lever i 6, its spring 2', and the releasing mechanism, consisting of knob 7r, rod 7;, knee-lever 7c, and connecting-rod 70 to the lever i, as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a ballot-box register, the upper indexplate, 0, and its pointers My)", combined with the lower index-plate, 1-, and the pointersi a", with their intermediate connecting mechanism, in a manner and for the purpose as set forth.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN H. LASKEY.

\Vitn ess es:

ALBAN ANDREN, HENRY OHADBOURN. 

